Chaeles j



(No Model.)

G. J. PRANKARD.

FILE HANDLE.

Patented Apr. 3, 1888.

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Wfinesses UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES J. PRANKARD, OF TROY, NEW' YORK.

FILE-HANDLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 380,660 dated April 3, 1888,

Application filed November 26, 1886. Serial No. 219,871. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES J. PRANKARD, a resident of the city of Troy, in the county of Rensselaer and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in File-Handles; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, that will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form apart of this specification.

Similar letters refer to similar parts in the several figures therein.

My invention, relating to improvements in file-handles, consists of the novel construction and combination of parts hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claim.

The object of theinvention is to cheaply produce a conveniently-detachable handle for files that will hold the file securely and not work loose in use.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a side elevation of my improved handle secured to a fiat file. Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section taken at the broken line a: m in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section taken at the broken line y 3 in Fig. 1. Fig. 4. is a front end view of the de-' vice shown in Fig. 1.

The detachable handle A is secured to the file B in about the position shown in Fig. 1.

The handle is provided at its rear end, which is shown on the right-hand side in Fig. 1, with an ofl'set, a, which is perforated to receive the eyebolt clamp O, the shank of which passes up through to receive the tightening-nut b, the lower side of the offset being counterbored to receive a portion of the eye, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1 and at din Fig. 3. The eye is adapted to receive the pointed tang D of the file. The other end of the handle is provided with the screw-operated slide-clamps E, which slide to and from the handle upon the rod fiXed therein, as by pin 6, and the right-andleft threaded operating-screw G.

The screw is provided with a central groove, which affords a bearing for the detaining-pin g, as shown in Fig. 2, which prevents anylongitudinal movement of the screw in the handle. The screw terminates at one or both ends in a rectangular post adapted to receive an operating-wrench. The apertures in the clamp E are threaded to receive the screws. The vertical position of the clamps relatively to the handle is such that when the file is placed against the bottom of the end of the handle its lower edges will project below the bottoms of the clamps, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4. The tang of the file is also bent to one side, as shown in Fig. 1, so that the file can be placed fiat upon the object to be operated upon without bringing any portion of the handle or its attaching mechanism in contact with the object. As the tangs of files are commonly made soft, they can be easily bent from one side to the other, as desired.

To attach the handle to the file it is only necessary to insert the 'tang of the file in the eye of eyebolt-clamp and drop the other end of the handle down upon the file, so that the latter is straddled by the clamps E, then draw the eyebolt-clamp up into the counterbore d by means of nut b, and close the slide-clamps E E upon the file by turning the right and left handed screw G. The handle is thus firmly secured at each end upon the file, and the file may be worn out before the handle will work loose. By loosening the clamps the file can be easily removed from the handle and turned over, the bend in the tang being reversed; or a new file can be substituted for the old one. It is not essential that the eye in-the eyeboltclamp should be formed by an unbroken ring, as a hook on the end of the bolt would form an eye that would be equally serviceable. The tang passing through the eye of the clamp O prevents its rotation when the nut 12 is turned -on or oil. By having two slide-clamps, E E,

operated by a right and left handed screw I am able to keep the handle over the middle of the file without regard to its width.

I do not wish to be limited to any exact form in the construction of either handle or clamps, which may be housed when desired and provided with more elaborate slideways. The eyebolt'clamp may be integral with the handle, the tang being thrust into the eye socket as far as it will go and held therein'by the slide-clamps.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination, with the file-handle provided at one end with means for securing it to the tang of file, of the rod F, attached trans- In testimony whereof Ihave hereunto set my versely by a pin, 6, to said handle, the righthand this 23d day of November, 1886. and-left screw G, pinned transversely t0 the CHARLES J. PRANKARD handle at g, and arranged parallel to said rod,

5 and the parallel clamps E E, traveling on the W'itnesses:

rod Fasa guide and carried by said screw, as GEO. A. MOSHER, described. CHAS. L. ALDEN. 

